Remembering Mets History (1994) A Big 15 Game Hit Streak for Rookie Rico Brogna

The 1994 baseball season was cut by a disappointing Player Strike that resulted in no post season or World Series being played.

For the Mets (55-58) they would finish third under manager Dallas Green. The Mets team featured players like Todd Hundley, Bobby Bonilla, Jeff Kent, Bret Saberhagen & John Franco.

That year the Mets were celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the 1969 World Champion Amazing Mets. In July they honored the team at the Old Timers Day celebration which was to be the last Old Timers Day for 28 years until revived in 2022.

Jerry Koosman & Tom Seaver at the 1994 Mets Old Timers Day Game 

 celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Amazing Mets.

In late June with David Segui struggling at first base, they brought up Rico Brogna who had come over from the Tigers for Alan Zinter. Brogna was a some what local guy, hailing from Watertown, Connecticut 88.7 miles from Shea Stadium.

After starting in just three games, Brogna homered in three straight games from June 28th thru July 2nd. On July 9th & 10th he homered in back-to-back games in Los Angeles. 

By July 24th he was batting .333 with a 1.063 OPS, five HRs & nine RBIs in 24 games played. Brogna quickly became a fan favorite on a team with not too many likeable players.

 

Monday July 25th, 1994:  The fourth place Mets (45-52) went to St. Louis to take on Joe Torre's fourth place Cardinals (46-51).

In the top of the 2nd inning, in his first at bat Brogna singled off Omar Olivares. In the top of the 4th, he collected another base hit off Olivares.

In the top of the 5th, Todd Hundley led of with a walk, Jeromy Burnitz followed with a one out single. Jeff Kent singled to left scoring Hundley with the Mets second run of the game. 

Rico Brogna then doubled bringing home his tenth & eleventh RBIs of the season. Rico soon scored on David Segui's base hit to make it 5-0. Ryan Thompson added an RBI a ground rule double giving New York a 6-0 lead. In the inning the Mets sent nine men to the plate collecting five straight hits.

In the top of the 6th, Todd Hundley & Jeromy Burnitz both walked, then Jeff Kent added an RBI single to make it 7-0. Rico Brogna followed with his fourth straight hit of the game, as he singled into right field. On the play Jeromy Burnitz was thrown out at home plate by right fielder Mark Whiten. 

Multi- Five Hit Game: In the top of the 9th, Brogna collected his second double of the game, a shot to right field which was also his fifth hit of the game raising his average to .377. Brogna became the third rookie in franchise history to collect five his in a game joining Dick Smith (1964) & John Milner (1972).

The Mets Bret Saberhagen had one of his best nights as a Mets pitcher, pitching a one run, seven hitter striking out five Cardinals as the Mets won the game 7-1.

Tuesday July 26th, 1994:   The next night turned out to be a wild 10-9 Mets win in a game where the both teams each used 19 players.  Dallas Green used eight different pitchers & Joe Torre used five pitchers.

The Cardinals took an early 1-0 lead but  in the top of the 2nd, Ryan Thompson's two run HR put the Mets back on top.

In the top of the 3rd, Fernando Vina was hit by a pitch & Todd Hundley singled. Then back-to-back RBI base hits from Bobby Bonilla & Jeromy Burnitz gave the Mets a 4-1 lead. 

In the top of the 5th Todd Hundley hit his 16th HR of the season. Then after Bobby Bonilla was thrown out trying to steal, Jeromy Burnitz walked & Jeff Kent hit an RBI double giving the Mets a 6-2 lead. 

In the home 5th, the Cards came back when Todd Zeile, hit a three run HR off Juan Castillo making it a 6-5 game. 

In the top of the 7th, Fernando Vina doubled & Bobby Bonilla walked. Jeromy Burnitz singled but Vina was thrown out at home plate by Mark Whiten. It was the second runner he nailed at the plate in the last two games. Jeff Kent was then walked intentionally loading the bases for Rico Brogna.

The hot hitting Brogna came through with a two-run single thru the hole between third base & short bringing in Bonilla & Burnitz giving the Mets an 8-5 lead. 

In the bottom of the 7th, with two men on, former Met Greg Jeffries singled to centerfield off Mike Remlinger getting St. Louis closer 8-6.

In the bottom of the 8th, Mets pitcher Josias Manzanillo gave up a triple to Geronimo Pena. He was relieved by Mauro Gozzo.  But Gozzo gave up an RBI sac fly to Tom Pagnozzi then a solo HR to Luis Alicea tying up the game at eight. 

Mets pitchers Eric Gunderson & Mike Maddux shut down the Cards in the 9th & 10th innings.

In the top of the 11th, Gary Buckels came on to pitch for St. Louis. With one out, Jeff Kent hit a ground rule double over the centerfield wall. 

The hot Rico Brogna came up followed with a two run HR giving the Mets the lead 10-8. Brogna had himself a multi-four RBI game, with six runs driven in over the last two games.

It was Brogna's sixth HR & 1th RBIs of the year in 26 games as he was still batting .373. 

In the bottom of the 10th, John Franco did give up a run but struck out Tom Pagnozzi to end the wild game with New York on top 10-9, with Rico Brogna's HR being the game winner.

Tuesday August 2nd, 1994: The Mets (50-53) came back to Shea opening up a three game series with Bobby Cox's second place Atlanta Braves. After dropping the opener to Cy Young winner Greg Maddux, 22,635 fans came to Shea to see Mike Remlinger go against Kent Merker.

Mike Remlinger who would pitch in 15 games for the Mets making nine starts would earn his only Mets victory on this day as he allowed one run in eight innings. Although he walked eight batters he was still able to earn the win. Remlinger would eventually get to Atlanta & play in four post seasons with them (1999-2002).

In his first three at bats Brogna collected a pair of singles. In the bottom of the 8th. Bobby Bonilla doubles & scored on Jeff Kents single. Two batters later Brogna delivered a two run HR off Steve Bedrosian leading the Mets a 4-1 win. It was his eleventh multi-hit game & his second multi-three hit game over the past three days. He now raised his batting average to .387.

Wednesday, August 3rd, 1994: In the rubber game of the series, Bobby Jones went up against Steve Avery in front of 24,519 fans at Shea.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Bobby Jones & Tim Bogar led off with base hits. After Steve Avery balked, Kelly Stinnett ground out to short which allowed Bobby Jones to score the first run. 

In the top of the 5th, the Braves Mark Lemke singled, Steve Avery attempted a sacrifice bunt, Mets catcher Kelly Stinnett threw the ball away & Mark Lemke rounded the bases to score tying the game. In the 6th, Fred McGriff  homered giving Atlanta a 2-1 lead.

In the bottom of the 9th inning, Greg McMichael came on to close it out for Atlanta. But he ran into trouble quickly as Jeff Kent walked & David Segui singled to right field & Fernando Vina came in to pinch run. 

Rico Brogna who was 0-3 so far, delivered once again as he singled up the middle tying up the
game at two with his 19th RBI of the year.

Rico Trivia: Brogna enjoyed a 15 game win streak where he hit .466 with two HRs four doubles seven runs scored & 12 RBIs. In that time he had a multi-five hit game, a multi-four RBI game, a 9th inning game tying RBI base hit & a 10th inning game winning HR.

After a pitching change that saw Mark Wholers enter the game, Ryan Thompson sacrificed the runners over, pinch hitter Joe Orsulak was walked intentionally to load the bases.

Jose Vizcaino then won the game with a walk off base hit to left field scoring Fernando Vina.

The Mets went on one of their best streaks of the year at this point winning eight of ten games. The baseball strike would end the season in July.

In just 39 games that year, Rico Brogna batted .351 with 7 HRs 11 doubles 20 RBIs & a .380 on base %. His hometown in Watertown even hosted a Rico Brogna fan club trip to Shea Stadium.